Tranmere and
Clarence Plains
Land and Coast Care

More information 

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Women at the shopfront

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The wives and older daughters in Rokeby village would most likely have served customers and helped out in the businesses run by their menfolk. On a few occasions, we learn about their particular situation.

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Mary Pearson, according to a letter written to the Editor in 1844, was lying ill with no hope of recovery. It was a dire situation.  Everything except a bedstead and the bed she was using had been repossessed by the Sheriff’s Officer.  The family grocery shop went into debt after she took ill and her seven children had been taken in by various friends and relatives.  She died of tuberculosis in Sorell six years later and, in the meantime, the grocery shop by the Rivulet was advertised for rent. 

 

Ann Farrer fared better. Her husband Jonas Farrer, ran the shop by the Rivulet.  He rented it, first from Henry Morrisby and later from Henry's widow, Christina Morrisby. The Farrers moved to Hamilton in 1860, but Jonas died two years later.  Ann Farrer moved back to Rokeby with her two sons and again rented the shop from Christina Morrisby.  She subsequently married William Witt who built the local Congregational Church.  

 

Emily Free’s parents ran the Horse and Jockey Inn on South Arm Road.  At 21, she was appointed Postmistress, the first of a number of Free women who took on this role.  She may have initially run the post office from the Horse and Jockey Inn, but later rented the shop in front of the Watch House from the Witt family.  By 1889 when she married a miner from Zeehan, she had been Postmistress for sixteen years. 

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Links to more information on other websites

 

Shaping the plains - Rokeby’s Watch House

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Directions to next sign

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Follow the footpath north that runs alongside the Clarence Plains Rivulet and the Mumurimina People sign is located about 400 metres ahead.

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